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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25573378">the summer of 2013</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/haljordangreenjedi/pseuds/haljordangreenjedi'>haljordangreenjedi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Olympics! AU [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batgirl (Comics), Batman - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Olympics, Arthur Brown is a piece of shit, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Gen, Gymnast Stephanie Brown, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Protective Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown Needs a Hug, no editing we die like robins, no one asked for this but here i am</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:48:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,029</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25573378</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/haljordangreenjedi/pseuds/haljordangreenjedi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephanie is thirteen years old, and she's learned a lot about family. One thing she knows: fathers aren't supposed to treat their daughters like this.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Stephanie Brown &amp; Arthur Brown, Stephanie Brown &amp; Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown &amp; Jason Todd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Olympics! AU [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841788</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>97</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the summer of 2013</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this does have mentions of child abuse, I didn't explicitly state it, but you can connect the dots. This is a part of Steph's story, and it's a part I didn't want to completely skip over. If that's triggering, proceed with caution or please skip this piece.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Steph is thirteen years old when she calls the cops on Arthur. It’s long overdue, and she honestly doesn’t know how they got to this point, but she knows that this isn’t how fathers are supposed to treat their daughters. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Arthur has managed to stay out of prison for over a year, and anyone else would think that as a sign of change. Steph just sees it as him biding his time. Which, whatever, she spends most of her time at Bruce’s anyway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Crystal doesn’t like the idea of leaving her alone with her father, but she got called in to the hospital last minute. It was some crazy thing to do with the guy that calls himself the Joker, and Crystal barely has time to kiss Steph’s forehead and pass her a few bucks for dinner before she’s out the door. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Arthur’s not there then, and Steph figures she can eat dinner and then lock herself into her room before he gets back from the bar, so she doesn’t make a stink, or call anyone to bring her to Bruce’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was a mistake. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Steph wakes up, everything’s a little foggy, and her cheek is stuck to the vinyl of their couch. The tv plays one of those late shows, although she doesn’t know which one, and Arthur is banging around, yelling at top volume to his cronies that he brought home. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In a matter of seconds, Steph’s wide awake, sitting bolt upright, her spine straight as a ruler. She hasn’t been vulnerable in front of Arthur and his friends since she was a little girl, and while she doesn’t remember why that is, Crystal’s protectiveness when Arthur is home doesn’t paint a pretty picture.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Whatever’s happened that night has Arthur angry, and when there’s no beer left in the fridge, he gets even angrier.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And that’s when he turns on Steph.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>•••••</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The thing about family, Steph’s been learning, is that just being family doesn’t really mean anything. Arthur was her father, but he was mean. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bruce, on the other hand, he didn’t even get frustrated when she failed to land a stunt ten times in a row. He’d set up a room for her in his house, made sure she ate enough, got a decent amount of sleep, and that she was keeping up with her school work. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Those were all things that Crystal did, when she wasn’t running out of the house to catch another shift, but Arthur never really spared her the time of day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jason had had another dad too, they’d talked about it late one night, after Dick had fallen asleep. Jason had other parents, but his mom had been a mess, and his dad had been mean. A lot like Arthur was mean. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But he’s your dad. How’d you call the cops on him-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just because he was my blood, doesn’t mean he was my Dad, Steph. Willis didn’t deserve to be my dad, Bruce is a way better dad than he ever could have been. After my mom died, I have no regrets when it came to leaving my dad behind.” Jason took a deep breath, and looked her in the eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was a heavier conversation than the two of them had expected to get into that night, but they both knew that there was a startling amount of similarities in their childhoods, even if Steph refused to say anything about hers. Crystal was the only adult to ever drop her off at the gym, and there were hushed conversations between her and Bruce with startling frequency whenever Arthur was out of prison. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jason had seen that behavior before, in his own mom. He knew the signs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So, Jason said something that night that Steph would never forget, “Good Dads don’t hurt their kids.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>•••••</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There are tears in her eyes, and her body aches in a way it doesn’t normally when she’s finally behind the locked door of her bedroom. Arthur was passed out on the couch, his friends finally gone. Steph thought about that night, her conversation with Jason, and what he’d made sure she understood out of all the things they’d talked about.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Good Dads don’t hurt their kids. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steph took a deep breath and dialed 911.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She hears the police come, hears Arthur’s belligerent yells from the living room. Steph had told the operator that she’d locked herself in her room before she hung up, but she refused to open the door to the officers on the other side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Bruce gets there, a crowd is forming from the other tenants of the apartment complex. They all want to know what’s going on, Arthur is still yelling, multiple officers trying to herd him towards one of the cruisers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bruce ignores it all and sprints to the stairs. He takes them two at a time, and when he reaches the door of her apartment, an officer tries to stop him. He’s a retired gymnast, but that doesn’t mean that Bruce has completely stopped training, pushing the man out of the way would be easy with the amount of adrenaline going through his body right then.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, he growls. “My daughter’s in there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Whatever look is on his face, the officer moves out of the way quickly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Commissioner Gordon, a man Bruce has known most of his life, and who had backed Bruce’s endeavor to better the lives of children across Gotham, is standing at a closed door with another officer and a paramedic. When Gordon sees him, he orders the other officer to move out of the way. If anyone’s going to get Steph to open that door, it’s Bruce.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bruce steps in front of the door, and it feels like every nerve ending in his body is on fire. He could go downstairs and throttle Arthur right now, already knowing what he was going to find behind that door. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But that’s not what Stephanie needs, so he lightly knocks on the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Steph? It’s Bruce. Can you open the door?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They hear the turn of the lock, and Gordon nods at him. Holding his breath, Bruce turned the knob, and led the way into the room. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bruce has realized that his role in Steph's life has taken on a lot more than just being her coach, and he's okay with that. Steph is beginning to understand that as well. </p>
<p>Stay healthy, take care of each other, and leave a comment to let me know what you think.</p>
<p>We're getting closer to the actual Olympics part of this AU!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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